Category Archives: recordings

LPs batch 24: Liszt

Quite a lot of piano and chamber music remain to be done, and I tackled some of it in this batch. Beginning with two discs of quartets from Eastern Europe: a Supraphon of the Smetana Quartet playing Janáček’s and the … Continue reading

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LPs batch 23: the end of romanticism

This batch began with the second LP of Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances and overture My Home. Then a treasured disc of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf singing Strauss; we have been unable to agree on whether her performance of the Four Last Songs or … Continue reading

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LPs batch 22: Op. 0

This batch was mostly the Æolian Quartet playing Haydn, including his very earliest quartets and the entertainingly numbered Op. 0. After that came Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances (together with another version of his Scherzo Capriccioso) played by the Bavarian Radio SO … Continue reading

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LPs batch 21: Sibelius and Haydn

By this stage I felt like doing some blocks rather than odd single discs. I finished off the Sibelius symphonies, which are mostly conducted by Karajan or Ashkenazy but we have Kamu doing no. 2. Then it was onto a … Continue reading

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LPs batch 20: displaying umlauts

Our Sibelius LPs are a nice tidy batch comprising six discs containing the symphonies and a few other well-known pieces. This batch included the ones conducted by Karajan. I’m now beginning to finish certain categories and the last of Mozart’s … Continue reading

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LPs: batch 19 – trying to finish Shostakovich

I realised I’d been neglecting chamber music, so I moved on to an LP of Mozart’s piano quartets with the Beaux Arts trio, followed by a couple of string quartets performed by the Quartetto Italiano. Representing solo piano in this … Continue reading

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LPs: batch 18 – a tasteless sleeve

This batch was largely orchestral music again. It started with an old LP of mine: James Galway ‘The Man with the Golden Flute’ playing assorted pieces which showcase the instrument. One track is a bit notorious: a Moto Perpetuo by … Continue reading

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merging recordings

In my endeavours to put our LPs onto CD I am very much aware that while a typical LP lasts some 50-55 minutes, the CDs I’m using can hold 80 minutes of music. It should therefore be possible to fit … Continue reading

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LPs: batch 17 – carols and folk poetry

Half of this batch was the rest of the 9-CD Arrau/Chopin box. After the great wodge of Chopin I moved on to Stephen Bishop Kovacevich (as he then was) playing Beethoven’s third piano concerto with Colin Davis and the BBC … Continue reading

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LPs: batch 16 – Chopin on election night

This batch began with Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony with Rattle and the Philharmonia. It was now election night and I interspersed checking on the progress of the election results with recording the single largest item in our LP collection: a nine-LP … Continue reading

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